Berry Health Symposium

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Pre-proceedings

Keynote Speaker Gary D. Stoner, Ph.D.
Ohio State University

Dr. Gary Stoner is Lucius Wing Endowed Chair, Department of Internal Medicine, and Director of the Cancer Chemoprevention Program at Ohio State University. He has conducted studies in carcinogenesis and chemoprevention for more than 30 years. Currently, his laboratories are investigating the ability of various chemopreventive agents, including berries, to inhibit lung, esophagus and oral cavity cancers in rodents and humans. His studies are documented in more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. He has received the NIH Young Investigator and MERIT Awards, and is a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served on multiple NIH and American Cancer Society Study Sections and is currently Chairman of the NIH/NCI Chemo/Dietary Prevention (CDP) Study Section. Abstract

Speakers are listed in Alphabetical Order

Dr. Francisco A. Tom�s Barber�n

Spanish Council for Scientific Research

CEBAS Institute, Murcia, Spain

Francisco A. Tom�s Barber�n (1958) Dr. In Pharmacy for Valencia University, Research Professor of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in the CEBAS Institute located in Murcia in the Spanish Mediterranean Region. Co-author of more than 200 scientific reports pubished in scientific journals and has been responsible for more than 60 research projects. His main research activity has been focused to understanding the role of phenolic secondary metabolites in plant-derived food quality and their health promoting properties. His most recent research aims to the identification of those food constituents that are responsible for the health benefits, and the biochemical and physiological mechanisms for this activity as well as the evaluation of agronomic, genetic, processing and storage factors on these interesting compounds. He has conducted research stays in laboratories of the U.K. Switzerland, France, and the USA, (University of California, Davis). He has been recipient of the Rhone Pulenc Rorer Award of Phytochemical Society of Europe in 1997, for his research on food polyphenols, and more recently the Frial Award to Research on Food and Health in 2004.

Bruce C. Casto, ScD
Division of Environmental,
Health Sciences School of Public Health, The Ohio State University

Bruce C. Casto received his BS degree in Biology from Morris Harvey College, Charleston, WV, his MS degree in Bacteriology from the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, and his ScD degree from the Graduate School of Public Health, The Universityof Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. Major accomplishments include: Development in screening of human tumor/animal models for potential oncolytic viruses, discovery of "adeno-associated viruses (AAV)", development of quantitative in vitro techniques to Indentify identify and rank the oncogenic potency of chemical agents, development of short-term tests for evaluating the potential carcinogenicity of environmental chemicals, interactions between irradiation and chemical carcinogens in cell culture, inhibition of cell transformation by noncarcinogenic hydrocarbons, and chemoprevention of oral cancer. He has published over 170 scientific articles and book chapters and is a member of nine professional societies.

Marina Heinonen was appointed professor in functional foods in August 2002 for a 5-year term. Previously, since 1990, she has held a teaching position in food chemistry. She earned the doctoral degree in food science (Food Chemistry) at the University of Helsinki in 1990 after having completed the degrees of M.S. (Food Science & Nutrition) in 1988 at the University of Rhode Island, USA and M.Sc. (Food Chemistry) in 1986 at the University of Helsinki. She currently leads a 12-member research group focusing on functional properties of flavonoids and other phenolic compounds in berries, fruits, oilseeds, cereals, vegetables, and other natural sources. Antioxidant action, protein-lipid interactions during oxidation as well as anthocyanin colour are among the researearch topics. She has published 65 original articles, book chapters, and a number of other articles. Her present international activities include membership of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Scientific Panel on Food additives, flavourings, processing aids and materials in contact with food. She is also active board member of the Scandinavian Forum for Lipid Research and Technology (Lipidforum, chairman of the board 2001-03). She has experience in participating in organising of many scientific meetings, such as "Pigments in Food" in Stuttgart 2006 and in Quimper 2004, and "XXII International conference of polyphenols" in Helsinki 2004. Her activities within research include international research co-operation such as coordination of an European Union funded research project "Antohocyanin bioactivities" (QLRT-1999-00124, 2000-2003), referee duties for ca. 10 scientific journals and activities in organizing international post graduate cources. Her professional experience includes two sabbatical visits, first in 1987-1988 to University of Rhode Island, USA and in 1996 to University of California, Davis.

Dr. Luke Howard received his Ph.D. degree in Food Science from the University of Arkansas in 1989. He worked as an analytical chemist at the Dole Packaged Foods Research and Development Center for two years, and was an Assistant Professor in the Horticultural Sciences Department at Texas A&M University for five years. He served as Associate Research Professor in the Department of Food Science for five years and was promoted to Professor in 2002. Dr. Howard's research program is focused on the identification and quantification of bioactive compounds in fresh and processed horticultural crops.

Dr. Amy Howell is an associate research scientist at the Marucci Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research at Rutgers University. Since 1993, Dr. Howell has been engaged in research aimed at identifying the active compounds in cranberries that prevent urinary tract infections and determining their role in maintenance of urinary tract health. Dr. Howell and her team isolated specific compounds from cranberry fruit, called condensed tannins or proanthocyanidins, which were found to be capable of preventing E. coli bacteria from attaching to cells from the urinary tract. This work was published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1998. Subsequently, the team identified the unique molecular structures of these beneficial cranberry tannins. Dr. Howell has gone on to study the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of the cranberry tannins in an effort to determine site(s) of action and dose-response. Her work on cranberry's role in preventing antibiotic resistant bacteria from colonizing the urinary tract was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Howell's was recently funded by NIH to direct work on identifying active urinary metabolites from cranberry that prevent bacterial adhesion and collaborate on three clinical trials designed to measure the efficacy of cranberry for prevention of urinary tract infections.

Dr. James Joseph
USDA Human Nutrition Research
Center on Aging At Tufts University

Dr. Joseph received his Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of South Carolina in 1976. He was a post‑doctoral fellow at the Gerontology Research Center/NIH from 1976‑1982, and a sr. scientist at Lederle Res. Laboratories from 1982-1985 when he joined the Armed Forces Radiobiology Institute. In 1988 he returned to the GRC as a sr. scientist and in 1993 joined USDA Human Nutrition Res. Ctr. on Aging at Tufts University as the Director of the Neuroscience Laboratory. He is the author or co-author of more than 202 publications and has shared in the Sandoz Award in Gerontology, received a JAFEH fellowship from the National Institute for Longevity Science in Japan, the Stephanie Overstreet award in Alzheimer Research from the Alzheimer Foundation.,the Alex Wetherbee Award from the North American Blueberry Council, the 2002 Glenn Foundation Award for Aging Research and the 2004 Harmon Research Award. He also serves on the editorial review boards for the following journals Experimental Gerontology, Aging Cell, Neurobiology of Aging and Current Topics in Nutraceutical Research.

Dr. Kalt obtained her Ph.D. degree from North Carolina State University and is currently employed with the Canadian federal agriculture department, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Dr. Kalt's research on the health benefits of berries has focused on the phenolic components of blueberry species. Through several studies, she has characterized the effects of production and production factors on the level of antioxidant phenolics in blueberries. She has also worked extensively on the separation of berry flavonoid mixtures for in vitro studies. Dr. Kalt is currently conducting animal and human studies to assess the bioavailability and functional bioactivity of blueberry flavonoids.

Dr. Kresty is a faculty member in the Cancer Chemopreventive and Support Program at the Ohio State University, Department of Internal Medicine. She is also an Ohio State Alumni. Dr. Kresty's research is focused on evaluating cancer chemopreventive agents utilizing cell culture, preclinical animal models, and through conducting human clinical trials in patient cohorts at increased risk for cancer development. Her lab is focused on chemoprevention of aerodigestive tract cancers, particularly esophageal adenocarcinoma and the precursor lesion Barrett's esophagus. Surrogate endpoint biomarker development and assessment is an important component of Dr. Kresty's research.

Dr. Lyn Larcom received the Ph.D. in biophysics at the University of Pittsburgh and did postdoctoral work in molecular quantum mechanics in the Department of Chemistry at Pittsburgh. He is Professor of Physics and Microbiology at Clemson University. His research interests are in the defects in cancer cells, particularly the leukemias and breast cancer; the anti-cancer properties of fruits and DNA repair mechanisms. Current projects include comparison of different varieties of berries and grapes for their abilities to suppress mutagenesis and for their effects on DNA repair and on the matrix metalloproteinase enzymes.

Dr. Mary Ann Lila serves a dual role as professor in the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences, and as an Assistant Dean for Research in the College of ACES, University of Illinois. She directs a laboratory team of about a dozen researchers, all centered on the isolation, characterization, and bioactivity-assessment of natural components and mixtures from selected plants. She uses both in vivo and in vitro plant systems to explore the triggers that lead to the biological potency and unique phytochemical content of berry fruits. Dr. Lila was honored to win a Fulbright Senior Scholar award to live and study berry flavonoids in New Zealand in 1999, and has been back to Australasia at least 1x/year since then.

Dr. Rui Hai Liu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. Liu received his Ph.D. in Toxicology from Cornell University in 1993. He also holds a M.D. in Medicine and a M.S. in Nutrition and Food Toxicology. Dr. Liu's research program focuses on diet and cancer, effect of functional foods/nutraceuticals on chronic disease risks, and bioactive agents in herbal remedies for cancer and hepatitis. Dr. Liu has published more than 50 original scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. He has been directly interviewed by more than 90 news media and scientific organizations about his research including the Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, CNN, CBS, the BBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, Science News, AAAS, ACS,
AICR, and Reader's Digest.

Tony K. McGhie, Ph.D.
The Horticulture and Food Research
Institute of New Zealand

Dr McGhie received his B.Sc. from the University of Auckland and M.Sc. from the University of Waikato. He then completed his Ph.D. at The University of Queensland in molecular plant pathology in 1997. Currently, Dr McGhie leads the Healthful Fruit Team of the Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand. The Team is focused on investigations to better understand the health benefits of fruit consumption. Previously, Dr McGhie has held research positions in Marine Research, CSIRO, Hobart; the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations, Brisbane; Veterinary Research Institute, Department of Agricultural & Rural Affairs, Melbourne; and MAFTech New Zealand.

Born 1945, Prof. of Endocrinology, Medical University of Graz, Austria Head of Endocrinological research unit, Institute of Pathophysiology
class=GramE>, Head of Institute of Applied Stress Research, Bad Radkersburg. About 350 Publications, mostly about catecholamines and stress. Main interest: development of clinical stress assessment (CSA) methods for determination of stress effects based upon our findings of additive epinephrine secretion. Interaction of biopolyphenols and stress.

Dr. Prior received his Ph.D. in Nutrition with minors in biochemistry and physiology followed by two years of post-doctoral training in Comparative Gastroenterology at Cornell University. Dr. Prior has been employed with the USDA for more than 25 years. Following 13 years at the USDA
HNRC on Aging at Tufts. Dr. Prior is now located at the Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center in Little Rock, AR. Dr. Prior has published more than 140 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals. Dr. Prior's most recent research efforts have focused on understanding the absorption and metabolism and health effects of antioxidant phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables.

Dr. Shiow Y. Wang received her M.S. from the UC-Davis, and her Ph.D. from Oregon State University. She is a plant physiologist/biochemist at the USDA-ARS in Beltsville, MD. Her research focuses on evaluating the effects of environmental and genetic factors on phytonutrient content and antioxidant levels in berry crops. Her research papers have been awarded "The ASHS Fruit Publication Award", and selected as "Hot Articles" in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. She was elected as Chair of the "Produce Quality, Safety and Health Properties" and "Asia Horticulture" Working Groups of ASHS. She organized a Colloquium on "Food Quality and Safety in Relation to Human Health" and a Workshop on "International Horticultural Development" for the ASHS annual meetings in 2003 and 2004, respectively. She has directed research projects of visiting scientists from all over the world including China, Korea, Israel, Taiwan, South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, and Mexico.

Dr. Ronald E. Wrolstad retired as Distinguished Professor of Food Science from Oregon State University July 1, 2004 after 39 years of service. He earned his B.S. in Food Technology at OSU in 1960 and his Ph.D. in Agricultural Chemistry at the University of California at Davis in 1964. His research addresses the composition and quality of processed fruits and vegetables. Anthocyanin pigments and polyphenolics are a particular interest. He is author or co-author of 158 research publications and has 2 patents. He is a Fellow of both IFT and ACS's Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.